Not the best of the bunch so far, it reads like Baby's First Anti-Capitalist essay. However, the themes line up with the manga very well and it was intriguing to compare the conclusions Ed and Al came to in this side novel to the main story line.

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Batman and Robin, Volume 1: Born to Kill by Guy Major, Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray, Peter J. Tomasi, John Kalisz

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 60%.

First of all, I must thank Ballantine Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC! It is quite unfortunate that I am unable to finish this book, but I am still thankful for the time given to try it out.

There is a lot going for this book. I'm a big fan of Asian-based fantasy, in this case, Chinese-based, and I know many other people agree by the general popularity of this genre. To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang has a unique take on this genre, incorporating sci-fi elements somewhat seamlessly and proposing an interesting perspective on cross-world colonialism (affirmed to be based on real-life colonialism) in an alternate universe in which the Roman empire has endured and has been modernized with guns and machines. The world-building is really good, and while in some areas there was a bit too much exposition or repeated facts, overall I found myself intrigued by the premise and ready to dive in.

For all this good, I really, really, wanted to like this book. However, I just don't think it was for me. At first, when I realized I was procrastinating reading it, I thought it was because I was just distracted by other things in my life. But when I sat down and tried to get through it, I realized it was my gut telling me I wasn't interested. The premise is interesting and the writing wasn't bad by far. As I read, though, I found myself wondering when things were going to pick up. When I reached the halfway point of my ARC and felt like barely anything had happened, my gut sank and I knew this was a DNF for me. The pacing wasn't terrible, but ultimately I needed a bit more hook to keep me going. I liked the different chapter lengths, that definitely helped. But the content didn't match. The first half of the book is summarized by a few repeating factors: Ruying's moral dilemma about using her power, her need to protect the people she loves, and the awfulness that is Roman occupation in her world. After a while, I just felt tired of seeing the same thing written in different ways over and over. Every time Ruying had a moment of introspection these 3 factors were hammered home. Typically this issue in writing is a move of distrust by the author that the reader doesn't understand what the author wants to say. My own interpretation was that of a lack of content to work with. The author has the world and the plot but is unable to give away too much, leaving her to just repeat basic information back at the reader.

I wish I could've pushed through more, but life got in the way a bit. I don't think this is a terrible book nor is it terrible writing. In fact, I found the word choice and language quite strong and inspiring. And as I said earlier, I really enjoyed the world-building and what I saw of the plot seemed very intriguing. However, it just wasn't meant to be. For this reason, I gave the book 3.5 stars.

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